T-Mobile announced the company's second Android phone, the MyTouch 3G, on Monday, based on the HTC Magic platform. Based on the Google Ion/HTC Magic platform, the MyTouch 3G is a touch-screen, slab-style smart phone with improved multimedia features, Microsoft Exchange support, and some applications that will be exclusive to T-Mobile.
"This is our next Android google phone. It continues our leadership with Android and the partnership that we've established with Google," T-Mobile CTO Cole Brodman said.
The MyTouch 3G will come in black, white and red. It has no physical keyboard, relying instead on the Android 1.5 OS's virtual keyboard for entering data. It features a 3.2", 320x480 touch screen, 3.2-megapixal camera, MicroSD memory card slot, and built-in video recording and playback capabilities. The phone connects to the Internet via T-Mobile's 2G and 3G networks, foreign 2G or 3G networks or Wi-Fi.
T-Mobile's pitch for the MyTouch 3G centers around the phone's customizability, focusing on features like the phone's wide range of available home screen widgets. While the phone will have access to the 5,000 applications in the current Android Market app store, Brodman said T-Mobile will offer some exclusive apps as well. One of them is Sherpa, a local search and recommendation engine that improves its recommendations based on a user's past history of requests.
T-Mobile's close relationship with Google also let them put Microsoft Exchange support into the phone while keeping the "with Google" moniker that signifies full Google approval of the device, Brodman said.
The Google Android OS was supposed to appear on a wide range of phones, but so far only one has appeared in the US, the T-Mobile G1. Brodman said that T-Mobile will have "multiple Android devices shipping in the second half [of this year]." The MyTouch 3G won't kick the G1 out of T-Mobile's product line, either. The two phones will coexist, Brodman said.
Sprint and Verizon have also shown interest in launching Android phones, and AT&T has spoken about releasing highly customized Android phones in the future.
The MyTouch will also be sold with an unusual 2-year extended warranty, which will be available at T-Mobile stores for what Brodman said is a "nominal" additional fee. He didn't give exact details, but he made it sound more affordable than the usual phone insurance.
The gadget will also come with a protective case, travel charger, and headphone adapter to let owners use standard 3.5-mm headphones with the device, Brodman said. The built-in 4GB MicroSD card will come with six songs from Sony Music on board.
The MyTouch 3G can be pre-ordered by existing T-Mobile customers starting July 8th for $199.99. Shipments will go out to pre-ordering customers on July 29th, and other folks will be able to get the phone in early August. If you're curious about the MyTouch 3G, check out our hands-on with the generic version of the phone, known as the Google Ion.
